UNDER THE MICROSCOPE - EXAMINING THE FUTURE OF CHARITIES IN BRITAIN

Charities play a vital role in communities across Britain – but what do people really think about them? We partnered with ComRes to investigate the attitudes that MPs and voters hold towards charities, and the policies that they think the Government should implement to increase the impact that voluntary organisations have.

KEY FINDINGS

Our 2015 report looks at how attitudes between MPs and voters differ, where voters and MPs affiliated to the same party agree and disagree, and shines a light on the attitude of new MPs towards charities. We discovered that:

The new intake of MPs are ambassadors for charities, and have views more closely aligned with the public than those from previous intakes

Public trust in charities is under threat, and charities need to focus on rebuilding and restoring trust

Voters want their MPs to protect charities, believing that those who provide public services should not be the focus on spending and that charities should be able to continue their advocacy role

MPs of all parties are positive about charities, and keen to highlight the positive contribution that charities make in communities

Voters and MPs agree on the need to secure the future, and want to see action taken to get more young people engaged in volunteering

The smaller parties have left their mark, with individual policies proposed by UKIP and the Green Party at the election gaining high levels of support from the public

The need for dialogue between charities and government remains as strong as ever, and a healthy relationship between the two sectors is vital to strengthen society